Only now does it occur to me... A STRANGER AMONG US (1992)

Only now does it occur to me... I'm pretty sure that once upon a time in the late '80s, somebody was watching a Harrison Ford double-feature: WITNESS and WORKING GIRL. They were left with the sensation that they wanted to remake WITNESS, but they also wanted to see Melanie Griffith continue doing her WORKING GIRL schtick. So they pitched the following: How 'bout WITNESS, except instead of Harrison Ford we have Melanie Griffith, and instead of the Amish we have the Brooklyn Hasidim?

Furthermore, it's directed by Sidney Lumet, who I have to imagine was a hired gun to give it "gritty NYC flavor." The problem is, instead of the next SERPICO or PRINCE OF THE CITY or DOG DAY AFTERNOON we have something a little closer to THE WIZ.

 

Well, if Club ZAP! is in a movie, it can't be all bad

So we have Melanie Griffith as a hard-boiled hot-doggin' cop who is totally subjected to the classic "next time you act like such a goddamned maverick I'm gonna need your badge and gun on my desk!" speech

only she's making no effort whatsoever to appear tough n' gritty, opting for the "Marilyn Monroe-via-BODY DOUBLE" baby voice throughout. Which is frankly kinda great.

Anyway, there have been some murders in the Flatbush Hasidic Jewish neighborhood, so she's sent in to go undercover (!) by a screenplay that A. thinks it's definitely going to win some Oscars, B. is dedicated to the idea that Melanie will learn a lot from the Hasidim and the Hasidim will learn a lot from Melanie, and C. really wants to shoehorn a bodice-ripping romance with a rabbi in here somewhere. This is obviously a recipe for success, if by success you mean alienating the religious community you are attempting to depict as well as causing a variety of audience members to snort their beverages through their noses. Allow me to demonstrate what I mean:

They're a regular Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant, aren't they. And that's right, her name is "Detective Eden"... like the garden from that book

She shore is a sassy shiksa

First, note Mia Sara (FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF, LEGEND, TIMECOP) playing Hasid. Second, note that Melanie Griffith's character, when informed that someone "died in the camps," does not know what the camps are.

HEY WHAT DO YOU MEAN "YOU PEOPLE"

This is just poetry, a Song of Songs if you will

If FLEABAG brought us "Hot Priest Summer," truly A STRANGER AMONG US brings us "Lukewarm Rabbi Summer." The crux of it is that she doesn't even want to date him, it's just kind of an experiment to prove a point about repression or something

Along the way, in attempts to summon some New York-realness, we have young James Gandolfini as a low-level mobster:

 

John Pankow (TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A.) as a likably dorky detective:

some full-FIDDLER dance scenes:

use of the brilliant catchphrase "Okey-dokey":

and an amazing scene where for some reason Melanie Griffith deputizes the rabbi:

This whole thing is so absurd that you end up being slightly more puzzled than offended. Also, they totally tried to sell it like it was from the same genre as BASIC INSTINCT:

 

a desperate early '90s decision that tells me they knew they had a real winner on their hands. 

Film Review: IN THE LOOP (2009, Armando Iannucci)

Stars: 4.3 of 5.
Running Time: 106 minutes.
Notable Cast or Crew: Peter Capaldi, Gina McKee, James Gandolfini, Mimi Kennedy, David Rasche, Steve Coogan, Anna Chlumsky, Tom Hollander, Chris Addison.
Tag-line: "The fate of the world is on the line."
Best one-liner: "Within your 'purview'? Where do you think you are, some fucking regency costume drama? This is a government department, not some fucking Jane fucking Austen novel! Allow me to pop a jaunty little bonnet on your purview and ram it up your shitter with a lubricated horse cock!"

"So you're not resigning? Are you still playing the hawk?" –"Well, in...in a way I'm playing a much cleverer game than that...I'm a fake hawk." Finally the 'awkward, cinéma vérité workplace satire' which allowed THE OFFICE and EXTRAS to resonate so deeply with viewers has been applied to something timely, weighty, and significant- the ham-fisted, bush league, real-life machinations behind global politics. As Khrushchev wrote in a message to JFK during the Cuban Missile Crisis, "I have participated in two wars and know that war ends when it has rolled through cities and villages, everywhere sowing death and destruction. For such is the logic of war. If people do not display wisdom, they will clash like blind moles and then mutual annihilation will commence." This statement still applies, of course, but with several major addenda– they will clash and slash and parry like blind moles, but instead of the true face of war, they'll see promotion, demotion, an office with glass doors, or perhaps a shabby cubicle. The incompetence which could erroneously destroy an entire nation can easily be corrected when you're re-editing the minutes to your last policy meeting. People with strong convictions? Those who accept accountability? A dying race. Dying because they are no longer fashionable.

This is all rather heavy, but, make no mistake, IN THE LOOP is extremely funny. Non-stop waggish barbs are flung with HIS GIRL FRIDAY-style rapidity. The performances are spot-on: Peter Capaldi's (THE LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM) foul-mouthed, weaselly Scotsman;

David Rasche's (COBRA, UNITED 93) soothingly ominous warmonger; Mimi Kennedy's (DHARMA & GREG) earnest, outmatched diplomat;

Tom Hollander's (PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 2) wishy-washy simpleton; James Gandolfini's hot-tempered, peace-loving General (and his face-off with Capaldi is worth the price of admission alone);

Gina McKee's (CROUPIER, THE LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM) smarmy aide; Anna Chlumsky's (Vada from MY GIRL!) deluged subordinate; and our ostensible 'hero,' the mop-topped, half-assed newbie (Chris Addison). It’s the perfect ‘war movie’ in an era where the top torturer is some pencil-neck writing a policy memo at his desk. Nearly five stars.

-Sean Gill